STUDIO OF SIR WILLIAM BEECHEY, R.A. | PORTRAIT OF SPENCER PERCEVAL (1762-1812), PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY, HALF LENGTH

Gifted to Dr. Leo L. Morgenstern circa 1980;

Thence by descent to the present collector.

Spencer Perceval was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1809 until his assassination on 11 May 1812 in the lobby of the House of Commons.(1) Since he was, and still is, the only British prime minister to be murdered, a lot of posthumous portraits almost entirely based on the death-mask taken by the sculpturist Joseph Nollekens were made of Perceval.(2) The prime version of this painting by Beechey was exhibited in 1813 at the Royal Academy, London and now is in the collection of the University College Hospital, while two other versions were in the Avon Castle sale.(3)

1. R. Walker, Regency Portraits, London 1985, vol. I, p. 386.

2. Ibid, p. 387.

3. Avon Castle sale, London, Christie’s, 12 December 1930, lots 73 and 74.